Will the Internet of Underwater Things replace subsea cables?
06 August 2020
(Image: Bulgin)
As the development of increasingly innovative technologies allows humans to discover more about their natural surroundings, attention has now turned from exploring and mapping the land to the other 71 percent of the earth’s surface: the oceans.
Since we currently know more about the topography of the Moon and Mars than we do of our own ocean floors, scientists and engineers are now hard at work trying to overcome the unique challenges of deep-water exploration, particularly when it comes to issues of communication.
In recent decades, the sea has become the home of a network of sophisticated optical fibre undersea cables that allow continents to be connected to the World Wide Web. But in addition to the high-speed internet cables crisscrossing the ocean floor, subsea vehicles also need to be tethered by cables to allow them to communicate with the world above. Whether these are manned or remotely operated vehicles (ROVs), their deployment requires support from a large team of experts and their range is fairly limited. The tether cables and their connectors must also be expertly designed to withstand the substantial pressures and high salinity of the underwater environment to ensure that no leaks occur.
What is the IoUT?
Just as the Internet of Things (IoT) has been a successful endeavour on land, it is hoped that the concept of the Internet of Underwater Things (IoUT) will provide similar benefits for the world below sea level. Fleets of autonomous ROVs communicating with each other wirelessly could enable widespread environmental monitoring, seabed exploration, and accurate early warning systems for both natural and man-made disasters.
Unfortunately, the results from the research projects that have been carried out thus far indicate more challenges than successes. Electromagnetic waves that enable wireless communications in the air do not propagate very far underwater, and research for a reliable substitute is still in the earliest stages. Acoustic signals that mimic the echolocation functionality of marine mammals offer another possibility, but these are also prone to distortion and offer very low bandwidth. Another alternative is based on an LED-modulated optical ‘modem’ which can transmit high bandwidths of data.
(Image: Bulgin)
Cables are not dead – yet
Although it would be a milestone for humanity, it is clear that the IoUT concept still has a lot of obstacles to overcome. For now, it looks as though wireless technology will not be replacing ROV tether cables anytime soon in the hostile undersea environment. For the time being, the main focus in the subsea sector will remain on making underwater tethers and connectors longer, more flexible and better protected from saltwater ingress to enable ROVs and other exploration vehicles to go further and deeper for longer periods of time.
Bulgin, a manufacturer of rugged connectors and components, offers a wide range of IP66, IP67, IP68 and IP69K rated environmentally sealed circular connectors and cables specially designed for underwater and marine applications, including USB connectors, SMB antenna connectors, Ethernet connectors as well as a variety of power connectors.
More importantly, the Bulgin range includes a purpose-built high-pressure Deep Sea Tether Connector, which provides a quick but secure coupling and locking mechanism with a dynamic pressure balancing via the free flow of dielectric oil from the surface to the connector. This ensures that the 5kV, 32A connector can go up to 7,000m deep and withstand demanding subsea conditions such as high pressures and extreme temperatures while still providing uninterrupted power, data, and fibre optic signal feeds.
Download the Bulgin marine brochure to see the full selection of marine-grade power and data connectors and cabling.
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